Immortal Fire - Book One

“Hunter! Where the fuck is Hayden! I swear to God if you do not snap out of it right now…” I screamed.

Hunter was holding his nose which was broken. Damien flinched and sucked in his breath at what I had just done to Hunter.

“Damn…” Damian said sounding like he was in pain just imagining what that felt like.

Hunter looked up then and blood poured from his nose. He looked around confused.

“Hunter, where is Hayden?” I shouted. He seemed to register what was happening and took in Damien holding Cassie. He did not need any more explanation because he ran to the third statue of a hell hound down the great hall.

“Come on!” he yelled back at us before pressing something I could not see.

The statue opened to a secret passage, and we all raced through it. The ominous bang of the statue slamming shut behind us reverberated in my chest as we ran down the dark, shadow-filled passage. I did not know where we were going but pushed myself forward as I followed Hunter.

Glancing over my shoulder, Damien was racing right behind me with Cassie, and our eyes locked.

He nodded at me, and I somehow knew he was telling me he trusted me to get us out of here. I just hoped he was right…

The secret passage that Hunter had taken us down turned out to be more like a maze that made you feel like the walls were closing in on you. It felt like we had been running forever when we rounded a corner and demons attacked.

The first demon attacked Hunter but was quickly disposed of when he ducked and produced a short sword from a sheath beneath his bloody shirt and drove it through the demon’s neck.

Any doubts I might still have had of trusting him vanished at that moment. Damien had swiftly set Cassie down in a dark corner. She had started to come to but was still too weak to move on her own accord and slumped heavily against the jagged wall.

Damien and I fought back-to-back as the demons attacked. These demons were larger than the ones we had fought earlier. They were about seven feet tall with yellow eyes and jet-black skin. Double rows of jagged teeth and six tremendously long fingers on each grotesque hand…

Killing the demon in front of me, Hunter stood a few meters ahead of me and had just killed his opponent. He fought like Hayden in the sense that he had the same fluidity and swiftness… Damien had just killed the last of the demons and went back to grab Cassie.

“We can’t waste any more time,” said Damien walking past me and towards Hunter.

Hunter hadn’t said a word yet, but I sensed that he was starting to come out of the daze that Hades created as he kept touching his nose as if the pain was coming through his senses slightly more as time progressed.

Hunter started down the passage once more and we followed. We were blindly following him and hoping that he was taking us to Hayden and not leading us into a trap…

Running down the shadow-filled hall, I kept my pace next to Damien who still held Cassie as if she weighed nothing.

“How is she?” I asked, sounding breathless. Cassie was passed out again, but she looked a whole lot better than before.

“She’s doing okay. It will take a while before she is back to normal,” he replied, sounding tense. We never faltered in our pace as we conversed.

“So, she will be fine? For sure?” I asked looking at her limp frame bobbing up and down in Damien’s arms as he ran.

“Yeah…” he answered.

Looking back ahead of us, Hunter had stopped before a great metal-studded door. He looked back at us to make sure we were still with him. Walking up to the door, I placed my scalded hand on one of the metal studs. It was cold and soothing beneath my palm.

“How do we get in?” I asked, looking at Hunter. He did not answer, and I groaned in annoyance. I could not fucking wait until he was semi-sane again… that is if there was such a thing. It is Hunter we are talking about after all…

“Aria, I could hit him as you did back there earlier; I really wouldn’t mind…” Damien said a little too eagerly looking Hunter over and I raised an eyebrow at him.

“No, that’s okay,” I said, secretly contemplating it, then felt along with the door for any way to get it to open. Something tugged in my memories, and I recalled my soul walk when I first found Hayden. There had also seemed like no way to get it beyond the barrier before me.

Stepping away from the door, I told the others to do the same. They looked confused but complied anyway. Looking at the door once more, I called on the angel fire and it licked at my hands and traveled up my arms.

“I don’t know how this will go down but maybe back up a little more…” I said, never taking my eyes from the door.

Damien, while holding Cassie stepped back but Hunter stayed where he was.

“Don’t say that I didn’t warn you if something happens to you,” I mumbled in his direction.

Using all my might and will, I pounded both of my fists at the door and let the fire engulf it. The door splintered and a shock wave pushed me back that I fell to the dirt-covered ground. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Hunter had also been knocked back.